Salukis visit Murray State on Tuesday

SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (7-4) at MURRAY STATE (7-4) // Tuesday, March 7 // 4 p.m. CT // Murray, Ky. (Reagan Park) // SIU GAME NOTES PDF

The Southern Illinois baseball program visits Murray State on Tuesday afternoon at Reagan Field. The Salukis and Racers will start at 4 p.m. The matchup is the first of two this season between the programs. Murray State will return the game on March 22 in Carbondale.

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PITCHING PROBABLES

SIU RHP Austin McPheron (0-1, 9.45 ERA, 6.2 IP)
MSU LHP Jack Hranec (1-0, 0.82 ERA, 11.0 IP)

AROUND THE HORN

Southern Illinois opens a nine-game road swing with a trip to Murray State on Tuesday afternoon. First pitch is set for 4 p.m.
The Salukis and Racers are both 7-4 entering the game. Murray State earned a 2-0 win over nationally-ranked Louisiana Lafayette earlier this season but is coming off a 2-1 series loss to Sienna.
The Salukis are coming off a three-game sweep of Western Illinois, the second sweep in three weekends for Southern.
Murray State is the third of five OVC teams Southern Illinois plays in mid-week games this season. SIU dropped a 10-3 game to Austin Peay and a 18-17 game at Belmont earlier this season, and the Salukis will also play Eastern Illinois (3/29) and Southeast Missouri (4/11 and 4/25) later this year.
Southern and Murray have split two mid-week games every year since 2009, with the exception of 2015 (Murray won both games that year).
Six of the last eight SIU-Murray State games have been one-run games, and two of those eight have gone to extra innings.
SIU will start senior Austin McPheron for the second time this season. McPheron was outstanding in a Sunday spot start at Louisiana Monroe, allowing just one run in 3.2 innings.
The Salukis rank 10th in the NCAA in stolen bases with 24. Nobody else in the MVC has more than 11 this year.
Will Farmer has a .364 average this year, which leads SIU and ranks fifth in the MVC.
MVC LEADERS »
- Logan Blackfan in walks (11)
- Connor Kopach in doubles (6)
- Kopach in stolen bases (6)
- Greg Lambert in sac flies (2)
- Michael Baird in ERA (0.00)
- Baird in innings pitched (20.2)
- Baird in wins (3)
- Jacob Williams in pitching appearances (7)
Southern's bats got rolling last week with 45 hits in four games. The Salukis recorded double-digit hits five-straight games until Sunday. SIU raised its team batting average from .250 to .292 in that five-game stretch.
Ryan Netemeyer has three saves this season, which is second in the MVC. He has 16 career saves, which is tied with Tyler Dray (2011-14) for fourth in SIU program history.

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Players Mentioned

Michael Baird

Logan Blackfan

Will Farmer

Connor Kopach

Greg Lambert

Austin McPheron

Ryan Netemeyer

Jacob Williams

Scoreboard

Southern Illinoise University Athletics